There is a conventional catheter for purpose of urination to an end of which a balloon is attached. The balloon closely contacts with a catheter body during insertion into a urethra. In order to retain the catheter body in a bladder, sterilized water is injected through a proximal end of the catheter body into the balloon to inflate the balloon, thereby preventing a distal end of the catheter from coming out of the bladder. In the case where such catheter is used for a long period of time, a urinary infectious disease will occur and restrict behavior of a user.
In order to prevent the urinary infection disease and ensure freedom of behavior for a user in a certain extent, a Nelaton's catheter to be used in a self-drainage method has been developed. Since this Nelaton's catheter is not provided on a distal end with a balloon, it is impossible to retain the catheter in a urethra for a long period of time. A user must always carry the Nelaton's catheter in a casing filled with disinfectant liquid. If desired, the user removes the Nelaton's catheter from the casing and inserts the catheter through the urethra into the bladder to drain urine by oneself.
This Nelaton's catheter is inconvenient for a user, because the user must always carry it. It will be unnecessary for a patient suffered with a damaged spinal cord, a patient suffered with a cerebrovascular disease, or a patient suffered with a urination disease due to congenital urethra deformity to retain the catheter in the bladder, if the patient is awake, or if an attendant presents near the patient. On the other hand, if the attendant does not present near the patient, it will be necessary to retain the catheter in the patient's bladder.
In order to obtain an intermittent urethra self-retaining catheter set that has a self-retaining function in a conventional catheter with a balloon and a self-drainage function in a conventional catheter with no balloon (Nelaton's catheter), the present applicant has proposed previously “INTERMITTENT URETHRA SELF-RETAINING CATHETER SET” (Japanese Utility Model Registered Publication No. 2587642). This intermittent urethra self-retaining catheter set comprises a catheter unit, a disinfectant casing, and a cap. The catheter unit includes a catheter body having an urine-guiding passage and a water-guiding passage that extend along a longitudinal direction and are separated from each other, a balloon attached to a distal end of the catheter body in an inflatable manner and communicated to the water-guiding passage, an elastic plug attached to an intermediate portion of the catheter body, a branched tube bifurcated from the catheter body above the elastic plug and communicated to the water-guiding passage, a reservoir attached to a free end of the branched tube in a collapsible manner for storing a sterilized water, and an on-off valve attached to an intermediate portion of the branched tube. The disinfectant casing is detachably fitted on the elastic plug in a sealing manner for containing a lower part of the catheter body below the elastic plug and for storing a disinfectant liquid. The cap is detachably fitted on a top portion of the elastic plug to cover a top of the catheter body above the elastic plug, the branched tube, the on-off valve, and the reservoir.
Although this intermittent urethra self-retaining catheter set has achieved the initial object, it has not been still sufficient for, in particular, a physical exhaustion user or a hyposthenia user to use the catheter set by oneself. Since the catheter body is rich in flexibility, it is difficult for the user to insert the catheter body into the urethra. Furthermore, a user is required for a delicate technique and a slight force in patient's fingers in order to attach and detach the cap to and from the elastic plug and to open and close the on-off valve.
On the other hand, the present applicant has proposed previously “CAP FOR MEDICAL APPLIANCE TO BE RETAINED IN HUMAN BODY” (Japanese Patent Public Publication No. HEI 9-206370 (1997)). The cap for a medical appliance to be retained in a human body is constructed to achieve an object in which the cap can be readily handled for charging and discharging urine even by, for example, a woman who retains urine in her bladder, a person who finds it difficult to discharge urine, or a person who uses urinary bladder bags or napkins due to incompleteness of urine, and which does not cause leakage of urine even if the contact surfaces become rough on account of urine crystals.
The cap for a medical appliance to be retained in a human body includes a lid body, a connection plug body, and a hinge. The lid body is coupled to the connecting plug body through the hinge. The connection plug body, hinge, and lid body are integrally formed of the same synthetic resin material. The lid body is provided on a central area of an inner surface thereof with an engaging member made of a resilient material. The lid body is provided on an end thereof with a pull string.
There will be a possibility of applying the cap for a medical appliance to be retained in a human body to the intermittent urethra self-retaining catheter set mentioned above.